SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A Utah man accused of choking and stabbing a woman he met on the dating app Tinder pleaded not guilty to murder on Tuesday.
The lawyer for Ethan Hunsaker, 24, said he’s planning to get a psychological evaluation done on his client.
Attorney C. Markley Arrington didn’t elaborate on the reasons for the evaluation during a virtual hearing held online, but authorities have said previously that Hunsaker had been diagnosed with an unspecified mental illness.
Hunsaker is accused of killing 25-year-old Ashlyn Black in an unprovoked attack on May 24 after the two met on Tinder.
They met for a few drinks at a bar before going to his apartment in Layton, authorities have said. He called 911 to report the slaying early Sunday morning and told police to shoot him, according to court documents. Hunsaker told police he choked and then stabbed her unprovoked as they cuddled, according to the document.
Police found Black lying on the floor, suffering from multiple stab wounds. Emergency workers tried to resuscitate her, but she was pronounced dead of her injuries at the scene.
If convicted, Hunsaker faces at least 15 years and up to life in prison. He didn’t speak during the hearing other than answering a few basic questions from the judge. Hunsaker appeared wearing a mask and jail scrubs from inside the Davis County jail, where he’s being held without bail.
Black’s parents have called Hunsaker a “monster” who killed their daughter in “a crime as senseless as it was evil.”
Black had worked during her life to be a “voice of those who could not speak out for themselves” and had a gift for working with special needs people, her family has said.
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